Raccoon proofing my coop

[Heather J]

I haven't had any problems with predators getting into the coop, but I've wondered if that is more luck than anything. My chicken run abuts my goose/duck enclosure and the coop is right by the fence in between. Right now I only have a caribiner on the hasp of the coop and it is nearly four feet from the ground so a raccoon would have to hold onto the chicken wire to get to it--and my geese would never put up with that. lol The top of the run has flight netting stretched across it--which isn't exactly chain link, but it keeps the birds where they belong during the day.

Anyway, so the question is: do I need to do something different about locking the coop at night or is the caribiner good enough under the circumstances? I haven't lost any birds in the past year, but I know I had some eggs stolen at the first of the year before we put on the flight netting, but nothing else has happened since.

Something got into the pasture area they free range in a couple weeks back and dug up the rabbit my dh had buried, but I'm sure the fence will keep coyotes, fox, mountains lions, etc out. I'm mostly just worried about predators with opposable thumbs.

 

[cmcgoun]

None of the predators your will need to worry about have opposable thumbs

Which is good, a carbiner will keep any curious racoon or fox out!

 

[LynneP]

The buried rabbit was likely taken by a fox, because they *prefer* buried food and will dig a hole for their kills to let the meat age.

We're having a terrible year for raccoons too, and while we haven't had any kills, the little bandits are wandering through our barn and loft during this extremely hot spell. The coop is self-contained, and we used 1/2" hardware cloth to keep them from reaching in, as well as thermal glass. Still, like you, I fret.